Can You Spot The Snake In This Photo?

I grew up in copperhead country, and can relate to that picture! I had a few close calls.

I've had neighbors see copperheads on their front porches here, and then there are the neighbors who mistake rat snakes for copperheads and kill them. I have never seen one on any of my hikes, nor have I ever seen a rattlesnake. I hope I never do. It's one reason I never listen to music when I hike. I like to be aware of any little noise when I'm out in the woods.

From Wikipedia on copperheads:

Although venomous, these snakes are generally not aggressive and bites are rarely fatal.[citation needed] Copperhead venom has an estimated lethal dose of around 100 mg, and tests on mice show its potency is among the lowest of all pit vipers, and slightly weaker than that of its close relative, the cottonmouth.[citation needed] Copperheads often employ a "warning bite" when stepped on or agitated and inject a relatively small amount of venom, if any at all. "Dry bites" involving no venom are particularly common with the copperhead, though all pit vipers are capable of a dry bite.[citation needed]

Rattlesnakes:

Rattlesnake are the leading contributor to snakebite injuries in North America. However, rattlesnakes rarely bite unless provoked or threatened; if treated promptly the bites are seldom fatal.

The description of the venom sounds frightening:

The venom is hemotoxic, destroying tissue, causing necrosis and coagulopathy (disrupted blood clotting). In the U.S., the tiger rattlesnake (C. tigris) and some varieties of the Mojave rattlesnake (C. scutulatus) also have a presynaptic neurotoxic venom component known as Mojave type A toxin, which can cause severe paralysis. Although it has a comparatively low venom yield, the venom toxicity of C. tigris is considered to be among the highest of all rattlesnake venoms, and among the highest of all snakes in the Western Hemisphere based on LD50 studies conducted on laboratory mice. C. scutulatus is also widely regarded as producing one of the most toxic snake venoms in the Americas, based on LD50 studies in laboratory mice.

There are rattlesnakes around here where I hike. I used to think I didn't have to be afraid of them since they probably won't kill you and are fairly rare until I saw this show on bite victims. They didn't die but had these tennis ball sized divots in their calves where the tissue died. Yuck. Now I fear them.

Yep, not common, but enough to make me watch for them.   Google "copperhead deaths in Missouri" and you will find a few.


Seems like most bites result from a moron picking one up, although I know a guy that was bit on the ankle, just walking down a path a night.  He survived, but was very sick for a long time.

Snake boots?!

They ain't so docile when they're molting and you step right over the top of them. This I know.

And their usual lack of aggressiveness isn't necessarily a good thing. Instead of running away or taking a defensive stance, either of which would at least alert an innocent human, they like to freeze position, just daring you to become a guilty human by stepping on them.

But moccasins, yeah, the only snake I've ever seen that will follow you.

I grew up in south Texas, way out in the country. Yes, I saw a lot of rattlesnakes, but there were also copperheads and corals lurking in the area around the chicken coop. The cottonmouth moccasins lived around the cattle watering tank about a mile from the house. The cattle would walk into the water, leaving foot to a foot and a half "postholes" in the mud around the tank. The cottonmouths would crawl into a still wet hole and rest. When we kids went to the tank to fish, we had to watch for inhabited holes or fish off the dirt plug dam, which was some 6 feet above water level.

I had no more luck than anyone else, I suspect, finding that snake in the picture. In my experience, you stay away from low bushes and piles of leaves unless you probe them first with a stick. The eyes are the organ the snake's camouflage is intended to fool.